Pakistan's Religious Intolerance, Violence Against Girls

Farah Shaeen   ... Pakistan Christian Post

"The reports coming out of Pakistan of Christian and Hindu girls being abducted, raped, forced into marriages and coerced to convert from their faith are deeply concerning and need to be addressed."

"I call upon the Prime Minister to re-establish the Office of Religious Freedoms and resolve to work with our allies to end these religious persecutions."

Candice Bergen, Conservative party deputy leader

"Canada is deeply concerned by the mistreatment of religious minorities in Pakistan. The right to freedom of religion or beliefs among the human rights issues at the forefront of Canada's foreign policy interests."

"[Canada] is committed to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls -- a priority at the centre of Canada's foreign policy and international assistance efforts."

Grantly Franklin, Spokesperson, Foreign Affairs Canada

"Such acts [as kidnapping, rape, forced conversion] are committed by extremists who are operating in an environment that breeds extremism, does little to discourage or punish extremism, and indeed, rewards these acts of violence, as perpetrators are even valorized by media and political leaders."

Aaron Rhodes, president, Forum for Religious Freedom-Europe

Police officers escort Arzoo Raja, background center, after her appearance in Sindh High Court, in Karachi, Pakistan, on Nov. 3, 2020. Raja was 13 when she disappeared from her home in central Karachi. The Christian girl’s parents reported her missing and pleaded with police to find her. Two days later, officers reported back that she had been converted to Islam and was married to their 40-year-old Muslim neighbor. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan

Under Canada's previous Conservative-led government a government arm was created called the Office of Religious Freedom. Its role was to recognize the commonality of human rights offences linking religion and violence against women and against minority communities. A year after taking office, the Liberal government shut down the office and created another which it stated was more 'inclusive'. This was the Office of Human Rights, Freedoms and Inclusion.

 

That office last November took part in the Ministerial to Advance Freedom of Religion of Belief, when the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs raised the concern of "violence targeting religious minorities, particularly Christians" in Pakistan. Experts in the field feel that Pakistan requires a particular focus, that of religious persecution where targeted kidnappings, rapes and forced conversion are seen as symptomatic of deeply-rooted religious intolerance and the acceptance of violence.

Christians demonstrate against child marriage and forced conversion, in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. Nearly 1,000 non-Muslim girls are forced to convert to Islam in Pakistan each year, largely to pave the way for marriages that are under the legal age and non-consensual. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

The former Ambassador of the Office of Religious Freedom, Reverend Andrew Bennett adds that Pakistan has a long-held ideology of persecuting its minority groups: "These ideas are amplified by the media, or by religious leaders, which are then taken up by people who do wicked things." Some of his duties in the position had been inclusive of working with the government of Pakistan in urging penal code changes. "When the office was closed we lost that voice", he stated.

The Conservative party's international development and human rights critic, Member of Parliament Garnett Genius, spoke of the complex dynamics of religious persecution frequently overlooked by Western governments where in those countries religion is not as deeply rooted in comparison to countries like Pakistan. Canada has been left without a response against targeted abductions, rapes and forced conversions of young Christian and Hindu girls in Pakistan.

The Christian woman who spent nine years on death row in a Pakistani prison as a result of accusations brought against her of blasphemy following an argument with co-workers, represented a well-known instance of religious intolerance in Pakistan. Eventually the Pakistan High Court ordered her released from prison, occasioning mobs of protesters marching violently, insisting she be put to death for blasphemy against Islam, an accusation meriting the death penalty under Pakistan's penal code.

She was eventually released and at which time she, husband and daughter found refuge in Canada. Her notoriety and the passion of religious intolerance she still evokes makes it necessary for her to live anonymously, her location hidden from public knowledge. Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian Pakistani, was a member of the Pakistan Cabinet. His support for Bibi's freedom led to his assassination by an Islamic extremist in 2011. His brother, Peter Bhatti is the founder of International Christian Voices, a Canadian human rights organization. It was Shahbaz's murder that led to the creation of the Office of Religious Freedom.

Over a thousand Christian and  Hindu girls annually are kidnapped in Pakistan. Girls between the ages of 11 to 25 raped, forced to convert to Islam and forced into marriages with their abductors. Police rarely investigate much less make arrests for these criminal actions. Lawyer Sumera Shafique working with kidnapped victims' families in Pakistan explains that in Islam apostasy is punishable by death and that death is most often delivered by lynch nobs. 

 

Any hope the girls may harbour of returning to Christianity raises a violent backlash. Non-Muslim legal guardianship over Muslim children is prohibited as well, under Pakistani law, to the extent that once the girls have been forcibly converted to Islam, their parents have no legal rights concerning their welfare, their future, or for any other reason. 

 

Pakistani Christians attend Christmas Day prayers at the Sacred Heart Cathedral Church in Lahore. Photo by Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images